People under the age of 65 who have medical conditions that put them at high risk for serious cases of COVID-19 will be eligible for vaccination as of February 25.
Among those eligible are people with cancer, kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other lung diseases, diabetes, heart problems, weakened immunity after a solid organ transplant, obesity, pregnancy and sickle cell disease, according to a statement from the governor’s office. .
Governor JB Pritzker said his decision to include eligible new residents follows the guidelines of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Supporters of people with health problems praised the move as potentially life-saving, but others criticized it because many people 65 and older are still desperate to get scarce vaccination spots after weeks of trying.
Pritzker said that the “increase” in vaccine supply to Illinois will soon help more people get vaccine appointments in the state’s Phase 1B, which is for everyone aged 65 and over and essential workers, as well as the newly added group.
“Once we get enough vaccine supplies, we don’t have to waste time protecting them,” said Pritzker on Wednesday, during a visit to a large-scale vaccination center in Adams County.
State health officials announced on Wednesday that another 62,923 doses of the vaccine reached the arms of Illinois residents and workers. This brings the total number of vaccinations to 1,480,079 since the launch in mid-December.
This includes 327,413 Illinois residents who are fully vaccinated, about 2.6% of the state’s population, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health records. Both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two doses with weeks apart.
Pritzker said that while vaccine shipments arrive more slowly than he would like, federal officials this week promised 5% more doses than Illinois was originally scheduled to receive. Another 18,200 doses were sent to Illinois on Tuesday.
Pritzker noted that President Joe Biden’s administration enacted the Defense Production Act to increase the supply of already approved vaccines. A Johnson & Johnson single dose vaccine is expected to receive emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration soon, potentially increasing the vaccine supply to states.
“Illinois is moving in line with the CDC’s guidance to expand our eligible population as supply permits, bringing us closer to the point where the vaccine will be widely available to anyone who wants it,” said Pritzker.
Illinois Senate minority leader Dan McConchie, a Republican from Hawthorn Woods, urged Pritzker to include the medically vulnerable.
“I am pleased to know that the sickest among us and most at risk of death from COVID-19, regardless of age, will soon have access to the vaccine,” said McConchie. “Although the state should have provided some method from the start for those whose doctors have insisted that their patients’ lives or health depend on being vaccinated, there is now a light at the end of a very long tunnel for those most in need.”
Pritzker noted that Illinois administered the fifth largest vaccine inoculation of any state. It is the sixth most populous.
“We are hitting above our weight class, so to speak,” he said. “But we have a long way to go, no doubt.”
COVID-19 killed 53 other Illinois residents and infected 2,825 more people in the state, health officials said when reporting their count in a single day.
Since the outbreak began, 19,739 Illinois residents have died and 1,724,325 have been infected.
The state’s case positivity rate is 3.3%, based on an average of seven days, and is at its lowest point since late July, according to IDPH records. The positivity rates of cases allow healthcare professionals to track the level of infection.
Illinois hospitals also reported that 2,082 patients are being treated for the virus. Of the inmates, 232 are in intensive care units.
Many who end up being hospitalized have underlying conditions that put them at greater risk.